Cooper details reasons he left McDonell for Regis

New Regis High School assistant girls basketball coach Don Cooper spoke to the media Sunday evening to address more of the reasons behind his weekend resignation as McDonell High School’s head girls basketball coach.

“I didn’t feel welcome there,” Cooper told the Leader-Telegram in a separate interview before the start of a Regis intrasquad scrimmage at Carson Park Sunday evening. In addition to joining the Ramblers’ girls basketball squad this upcoming season, the decorated coach is also serving as an offensive assistant coach to Bryant Brenner’s Regis football team.

Describing the issues he had with McDonell administrators as “a philosophical difference on how to coach players,” Cooper explained that his reasons to leave the Macks after a decade as their girls head basketball coach was a decision he had to make.

“We’ve gotta be able to coach,” Cooper said, noting that part of that involves scheduling games and administrators were” bypassing me and there were tournaments we were invited to that I would have liked to have taken the team to. They can’t make those choices; they have to allow me to coach my team.”

Cooper initially announced his resignation, effective Sunday, in a press release sent to the media late Saturday afternoon.

That statement, in part, alluded to differences he had with the McDonell administration, of which he discussed in more detail Sunday evening.

“After everything that I have given to the MACS school system, from transporting students in the shuttle or substitute teaching or jumping in and coaching the varsity golf team, or even keeping the scorebook and clock to the boys basketball or volleyball games, I have always done whatever is necessary to make McDonell Central Catholic Schools successful. The treatment from the administration was something that I couldn’t justify,” Cooper noted in his initial statement to the media.

The statement went on to say that, “For the administration to take their time on implementation of necessary changes and their disregard for this situation has been extremely disappointing. This was a difficult decision for me and my family but the philosophical differences with our current administration and the environment left me with no options.”

Cooper also alluded to, but did not specifically detail, problems he had with “the proper protocol” that should be taken if a player has an issue with a coach.

“If a player has a problem with a coaching (decision), they should first go to the coach, not go through the administration,” he said.

Adding that he was “bypassed” on several occasions as the Macks’ coach, he said efforts to iron out the situations he wanted addressed resulted in some talk in the months following the 2023-24 girls basketball season, but nothing in writing.

“I said that we need to get this ironed out, but in the end, it was just conversations and nothing in writing,” Cooper told the Leader-Telegram.

Joining the coach at Regis for the upcoming girls’ basketball season will be his granddaughter, EllaMay, a point guard for the Macks who had an impressive freshman year on the court during the 2023-24 campaign.

As a freshman, EllaMay averaged 14.4 points a game — good for third in the Cloverbelt West Conference — and was a first team all-conference pick. She was also named to this publication’s All-Northwest girls basketball third team.

Cooper said the decision for his granddaughter to transfer to Regis was made independently by both she and her parents, who were aware of the coach’s situation with McDonell.

The coach said he was looking forward to double duty at Regis and thanked both Brenner and Teddy Joas, the Ramblers’ girls head basketball coach, as well as administrators at his new school for making him feel welcome.

“Teddy opened the door for me and everyone has been very supportive,” Cooper said.

Capsulizing his decade with the Macks, Cooper has led the team to four consecutive Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) girls basketball state tournaments and won the state championship in Division 5 in 2023.

Cooper was named this postseason to coach the North All-State team at the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association All-Star Game.

The Leader-Telegram has reached out to McDonell Athletic Director Bryce Meverden, but had not heard back from him by deadline for this story. A statement released by the school Monday afternoon thanked Cooper for his service to the school, but did not specifically address any of the coach’s concerns he spoke about to the media.

“Coach Cooper’s involvement and service to our school system has spanned many years and in several capacities. We want to extend our gratitude to him for his dedication to our student-athletes and we wish him well in the future. The search for a new leader for our girls basketball program will begin immediately as we continue to partner with our families and remain focused on the spiritual, intellectual, physical and moral formation of our students,” the statement issued by Olivia Knabel, director of strategic communications for McDonell Area Catholic Schools, read.